Dips Dig in as Underdogs, Look to Upset Gulls

Go ahead and think Franklin and Marshall women's lacrosse is
down. Focus on the fact that the Diplomats have no seniors and 12
freshmen. That they're breaking in an almost entirely new starting
lineup. Think last week's spring break loss to Messiah exposed
their flaws. Share your doubts.

You're just giving them what they want.

"I'd rather people count us out," said F&M coach Lauren
Paul. "We expect great things out of them. They expect great
things. Right now we're just in this fun growing place. I think a
lot of people are counting us out because we lost to Messiah.That's
fine with me. We're a team that doesn't have 10 seniors; we need
people to overlook us."

Rebuilding is different at Franklin and Marshall, which has won
two and reached three NCAA championships in the past four seasons.
The Diplomats' 12 freshmen are not your average 18-year olds,
however.

This is Paul's first recruiting class, scooped up during that
magical summer of 2009 when F&M was basking in the glory of its
second NCAA championship in three years, and everyone wanted to
come to Lancaster. Twelve players from Massachusetts through
Maryland chose to come to F&M and replicate that magic.

That's a big reason why the Diplomats remain a top-10 team, and
a dangerous one to overlook.

"It doesn't matter where we're ranked anymore," Paul said. "We
have to approach every game like we're the underdog, because that's
how they're approaching us. Everyone's treating us like we're their
biggest game of the year. I'm trying to make [F&M] treat every
game like its Salisbury."

That will be easy Friday night when F&M hosts Salisbury, the
defending NCAA champion. It's keeping that underdog mindset against
minefields like Washington College (Saturday) and Gettysburg (April
20) in conference play that could determine F&M's ultimate
success.

"It's not the talent or the on-field experience," Paul said.
"It's that any time you have seniors, and it's the last time
they're going to play this team, there's that excitement. The rest
of the team is like, 'We're gonna do this for you.' Well, this will
be the exact same team next year."

Without seniors to send off, F&M is rallying behind a new
persona as underdogs. Unfamiliar territory for sure.

Franklin and Marshall starts three freshmen: goalkeeper Kelsey
Hoffman, defender Libby Nichols and attacker Caroline Krohn. While
the future rests with the Class of 2014, the returners have
delivered in the present.

Sophomore Lauren Selawski leads the team with 11 goals and seven
assists. Junior Erin Dunne is right behind with 11 goals and six
assists. Junior captains Cat Serpe and Katie Delaney have 11 and
eight goals, respectively.

Paul, an F&M alum, took over a team loaded with
upperclassmen in the fall of 2008. The Diplomats won the title that
spring, but the late start resulted in a shortened 2010 recruiting
class. The team has just three sophomores.

"It's so different, but it's actually really fun," Paul said.
"My first year, I really tried not to change a lot of things. I
spent a lot of time maintaining team chemistry. It was a lot less
strategy and on-field coaching, and a lot more being a therapist.
This year is the complete opposite."

Salisbury and Washington College were scheduled back-to-back
this weekend for the same reason TCNJ and Haverford were scheduled
back-to-back in mid-April: to simulate tournament play, when teams
will have to prepare for two tough teams within 24 hours of each
other.

And though they have their doubters, the Diplomats plan to make
a deep postseason run.

Said Paul: "They keep talking about 2009. I tell them forget
about them. They graduated. Build this for you. People need to be
talking about you in a couple of years... It's going to be a fun
couple of years."